Man Blames Drugs For Downfall

GLOUCESTER — A 32-year-old Deltaville man blamed crack cocaine for his "downfall" Monday, but he denied that he used his job as an exterminator to check out potential burglary targets.

"I've been in half the homes in this county, but I never cased them to burglarize them," John William Whirley testified in Gloucester Circuit Court.

Judge John M. Folkes sentenced Whirley to 20 years in prison, with 15 years suspended, for breaking into a Gloucester residence last year. Folkes also sentenced him to 20 years on a related grand larceny conviction, but suspended all of that time.

Testifying moments earlier, Whirley said he knew he'd have to pay for his several-year addiction to cocaine and alcohol "for the rest of my life."

"I'm not asking for the easy way out. I'm guilty of what I've done. I'm asking for some help. I'm getting divorced. I've lost my family, my two beautiful children. I've lost everything I own. I'm asking for leniency on my sentence so I can rebuild my life," he said.

Under cross-examination by Commonwealth's Attorney Robert D. Hicks, Whirley admitted the burglary he was being sentenced for was one of "several" he'd committed.

"You had a job with an exterminator company. You went around and cased the homes, didn't you?" Hicks asked.

"No, sir," Whirley said.

Pressed by Hicks to describe his role in an earlier burglary of a house Whirley had visited as an exterminator, Whirley said an accomplice had done the actual break-in.